Should I...

[corrosive]

I have had the tank going for about 5 days, and i have had fish in there for 3 (this is the third day)

Should i do a water change today?

If you lot recommend not doing a water change today when would you do one?

Thanks.

 

[rvm]

If it's only been going for 5 days, then it's not cycled. Check your ammonia and nitrite levels, they are probably quite high. I would do water changes quite often on that tank until it is cycled and both readings are 0, then change the water once every week or 2.

 

[corrosive]

I cant check ammonia, but nitrite i tested yesterday readings were good lower than 0.3

 

[Wyld-Fyre]

You'll need to check ALL your parameters. Like rvm says, your tank is no where near cycled. How big is your tank? The smaller the tank the more often you'll need to check the water quality.

 

[corrosive]

its the one in my signature (30"l 12"w 15"h) 2ft 6 long, 1ft wide, 1ft 3 high.

 

[Wyld-Fyre]

Nice tank!

 

[corrosive]

Nice tank!

Well i think it is, only cost me £30 with filter air pump and stuff.

Out of interest how many corys and oto's do you think i could have in the future when the tank is established well.

As it says in my signature i currently have 6 fish in there. (two platys and 4 sword tails).

 

[Wyld-Fyre]

I'm real jealous! Why is it that everywhere, around London, is more expensive than anywhere else? £30 for a tank with all add-ons. If only. I'd have a 100 more tanks before you can even blink.

You've got a 19.5G (UK)/23.3G(US) (beats me why the US don't have the UK conversion.....j/k ). Here's a link for you to keep.....
http/www.worldcichlids.com/tankcalc/tankcalcgal.html

As Cory's are a schooling fish, I'd say you've got room for 5. As for Oto's since they're more mid-level/upper-bottom fishes, then as long as you've got plenty of places for them to lay on (plant leaves, bogwood etc) then you can have another 5 of these.

Please make sure that the tank is fully matured before adding any future fish/es.

Good luck.

 

[corrosive]

I'm real jealous! Why is it that everywhere, around London, is more expensive than anywhere else? £30 for a tank with all add-ons. If only. I'd have a 100 more tanks before you can even blink.

You've got a 19.5G (UK)/23.3G(US) (beats me why the US don't have the UK conversion.....j/k ). Here's a link for you to keep.....
http/www.worldcichlids.com/tankcalc/tankcalcgal.html

As Cory's are a schooling fish, I'd say you've got room for 5. As for Oto's since they're more mid-level/upper-bottom fishes, then as long as you've got plenty of places for them to lay on (plant leaves, bogwood etc) then you can have another 5 of these.

Please make sure that the tank is fully matured before adding any future fish/es.

Good luck.

Thanks , you have made my day lol, because i did want 5 of both .

Thanks for the tank size web site, now i have 3 to use to get the sizes .

 

[clutterydrawer]

that tanks looking nice, I like the layout.


if ntrite is still low then ammonia is probably quite high....do a water change jsut to be on the safe side, once you get an ammonia test you'll be able to monitor it better.

 

[jaime007]

have u got any more pics?

 

[Aquascaper]

As the tank is only 5 days old i would recommend getting an Ammonia tester asap as that is the one that is most harmful to fish and is present from day one.

If you haven't already have a read up on the nitrogen cycle (there's plenty of pinned topics on it), this will tell you the stages and what to look out for.

A very quick run down:

1.Ammonia levels go up
2.Nitrite Levels go up
3.Ammonia levels go down
4.Nitrite Levels go down
5.Nitrate levels go up

You sound as though you are at number 2 so you should find that there is still a lot of Ammonia in your water when you test. Did you use any established medium from another tank as you're getting Nitrites quite early on for a fresh start?

HTH

 

[clutterydrawer]

could be nitrites in the tapwater

 

[corrosive]

I just filled it up with 5L bottles of tap water.

I will see about getting a test kit for "Ammonia", what do i need to add stuff or w/e to get rid of it? because surely just testing the water doesnt make any difference to the water its self, you must need some kind of stuff to help the water change?

Oh and about the pictures i will take some to morrow, as my camera sucks even with the flash on at night time.

 

[clutterydrawer]

The best way to lower the ammonia is to do water changes. Eventually (= when the tank is cycled) there will be sufficient bacteria in there to get rid of all the ammonia.

Edit: don't bother with ammo-lock or other "ammonia removing" chemicals, they result in faulty test readings and genreally just confuse the issue.